About Chet
Candidate for Boone County Judge Executive
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My Story
I grew up traveling the United States and other countries as the son of an Air Force colonel. This exposed me to many different perspectives on liberty and the role of government in citizens’ lives. I settled down in Fairbanks, Alaska, one of the freest states in the country, where I served over 10 years as a career fire captain and medic. In this public service role, I supervised three fire stations and a 16-personnel shift and led the special rescue operations team covering a response district measuring 3,500 square miles of some of the most hostile climate and wildfire terrain in the country.
I earned two college degrees, taught at the local community and technical college, and traveled the state, even to the Arctic Circle, supporting the native villages in rural firefighting tactics and strategy.
In January 2016, my wife and kids and I moved to Boone County, seeking a more stable lifestyle in a solidly conservative Republican area of the country. My first job in Kentucky was in Corporate Risk Management at Toyota Boshoku, where I honed natural skills in process and organizational management and learned the rigid Japanese methods of identifying root problems and developing effective solutions. While working, I earned a master’s degree in business administration through Thomas More University. I currently work as Corporate Director of Business Resiliency for a global retailer, where I lead a team specializing in Crisis Management, Enterprise Risk, Cyber Breach Management, and Continuity of Operations Planning for more than 800 physical locations and 120,000 employees. My competency in making critical decisions requiring rapid and sound judgment under stress in high-risk environments is demonstrated on almost a daily basis.
Family
My wife and I have been married for more than 14 years. We have seven children, and hopefully many more in the future. We’ve come to love this county and this community. We enjoy running our small farm off Chambers Road in Walton, where we raise beef and dairy cattle, sheep and chickens. Four generations of my extended family live in Boone County as well, and we envision a future of many more generations calling Boone County home. I am heavily involved in our local church community and recognize how the county’s strong Christian population and the character of so many growing families strengthens Boone County. We are invested in this community not for the short term, not just until retirement, but forever, for our future generations of children and grandchildren.
Why I Got Involved
In 2021, I realized we were losing our country at a rapid pace. This was in part because we conservatives haven’t been as involved in our state and county politics as we should be. We are losing our way of life to elitist politicians who are focused on big corporate donors and investors and have forgotten the average citizen. If we want to take back our country, we have to focus on our local political environment.
In an effort to do my part, I led an organized effort to reclaim the Boone County Republican Party and was elected chairman during the June 2021 reorganization. Since then I have reformed the party from a small “good ol’ boys” executive committee into a fully functioning county party with 192 active precinct officers, giving control of the party back to the Republican voters of Boone County. As one of the most active party in the state, this historic effort is now being emulated in many other counties in Kentucky.
Why was this even necessary? Our Fiscal Court controls more elements of government that impact the daily lives of the citizens of Boone County than most state and federal policies combined. We have had massive growth and opportunity spring up in the last 30 years, and we need to continue keeping our county a great place to live, work and raise a family. As we look to the future and all the challenges growth brings, we need to pass the torch on to the next generation to mold and form the Boone County of tomorrow. With kids and future grandkids coming, I believe it is my duty to sacrifice my time for their future and the future of our beautiful county.
Why People Voted for Me
In 2022, when I overwhelmingly won my seat for county commissioner, I appealed to the average Boone County resident because I am authentic, honest and local, and I was not a career politician. I hadn’t spent 20 years in an elected role just seeking a retirement check. I believe in the Founding Fathers’ ideas about statesmen: people who would leave their jobs and families for a period of time to sacrifice for the greater good of the community and then leave public office to go back to their families. I have youth and energy. I have intelligence and a strategic mindset. And I have a lifetime of experience in critical decision making, difficult problem solving, and process management. These qualities and experiences make me a uniquely qualified candidate for public service in Boone County. I did not enter politics to start a new career as a politician but only after critical analysis of my children’s futures and the need to ensure Boone County voters can trust their Fiscal Court.
I am raising a family in Boone County and have an immediate and long-term vested interest in the strategic growth for this community. Residents, stakeholders, and voters can trust me to keep them informed about what impacts their lives and empathize with residents and stakeholders on issues that affect them. I was entrusted with a role on the Fiscal Court as commissioner to push back on the status quo and confront issues head on. As judge executive, I will continue to actively right-size county operations to address our community needs.